From time to time, all types of cattle require treatment by a farmer, rancher or veterinarian. These treatments may include procedures such as inserting eye drops, administering medicine or vitamins orally, dehorning, attaching ear tags for identifying the particular animal, or attaching and removing insecticide ear tags. In performing such procedures, it is necessary to restrain the head of the animal. Various devices have been developed for temporarily holding and restraining livestock while allowing access to the head of the animal for treatment (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,263,438, U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,802 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,791).
Commonly, the cattle are herded into a narrow chute developed to hold the animal while the various treatments are administered. Typically the chutes comprise a pair of movable side walls which prevents the animal from turning around and entrance and exit gates which when closed prevent the animal from moving forward or backward in the chute. The exit gate is generally referred to in the trade as a head gate and it includes a pair of similar gates which move across the chute opening from both sides to a closed position defining a head opening therebetween. Once the cow reaches the proper position in the chute, the pair of head gates is closed around its neck, thus restricting its further movement. By reason of the massive weight of the animal and its excited condition as the head gates close around its neck, frequently there is a substantial impact of the animal with the head gate structure. Due to the substantial weight and strength of cattle, the squeeze chute structure and the head gates are constructed of relatively heavy gauge steel which has relatively no give or deflection. Quite frequently this containment operation results in injury to the animals as they thrash around and impact a very rigid steel structure. Cattle squeeze chutes of this type have been commercially available for many years for use by farmers, ranchers or veterinarians.
Even though conventional head restraints are effective in many respects for restraining animals in order to perform many procedures, conventional head restraints do not provide adequate restraint to perform many procedures on the head of an animal. Conventional restraints allow the cow to move its head from side to side or up and down, making the performance of these procedures difficult. To facilitate the performance of procedures on the heads of cattle, typically a bull lead is inserted into nostrils of the animal and is used to hold the animal's head in a downward orientation. Bull leads clamp against the flesh between the animal's nostrils and pinch tighter by pulling on a rope which is typically attached to the bull lead. The rope attached to the bull lead is frequently tied to a heavy object such as a concrete block or tied to a fixed position on the head gate which is designed for that purpose. The use of the bull lead is painful for the animal, frequently causing it to cry and squeal. When a bull lead is used as a head restraint, the animal frequently struggles, making the application of eye drops or other procedures being done on the head of the animal difficult. The more the animal struggles, the longer the procedure takes. Frequently, in the application of eye drops, as the cow moves its head around, a significant amount of eye drops miss the eye and are lost. During dehorning or ear tagging, it is desirable for the animal's head to remain still in order to minimize the amount of pain or discomfort experienced by the animal.
It would be highly desirable to have a more humane means for restraining the heads of cattle that are being treated. Animal care providers would also readily welcome an easier means for treating the heads of cattle which would reduce the amount of time spent struggling with the animal. Finally, it would be desirable to have a faster way to restrain cattle coming through the chute and a means for providing a greater level of stability to the head so that eye drops and other medication could be supplied more accurately to avoid loss of medication. A more effective means for restraining the heads of cattle would, of course, also be beneficial in performing other procedures, such as dehorning or attaching tags to ears, more accurately.